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As an immediate response few hours after Typhoon Marce devastated the province of Cagayan, the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Office No. 02 and Department of Agriculture Region 02 Employees Association conducted a Disaster Recovery Operation Tulong in Gonzaga and Sta. Ana.
Headed by Regional Executive Director Rose Mary G. Aquino, the group distributed 500 packs of assorted groceries and 5 kg rice on November 8, 2024 for affected farmers and fishers in Barangays Minanga and Caroan in Gonzaga and Palawig in Sta. Ana.
According to Aquino, this is just the first wave of assistance since the DARFO 02 and DAEA shall continue its relief operation in succeeding days in other municipalities such as Sta. Teresita, Buguey, Aparri, Camalaniugan, Abulug, Ballesteros, Pamplona, Sanchez Mira, Claveria and Sta. Praxedes.
She clarified that the assistance is on top of whatever government interventions that will be undertaken after submission of final damage report to DA Central Office and National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
βThe budget utilized here was derived from the pockets of DA RFO 02 employees and DAEA funds,β Aquino said.
βNext week, we will also include in the items vegetables from the Nueva Vizcaya Agricultural Terminal in Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya. No less than Manager Gilbert Cumila had agreed to deliver 6 tons of assorted vegetables on Monday.β
Under the High Value Crops Development Program, the DA RFO 02 shall also provide seeds of short gestation vegetables for farmers to plant.
Likewise, Aquino had ordered for the immediate conduct of field validation in tandem with local government units.
βThere is a need to fast track the validation of damages until Tuesday next week for us not to be overtaken by time. Remember that we were already affected by series of typhoons and that our farmers and fishers must be given due assistance for them to bounce back the soonest.β
Just last week, the region had experienced the wrath of typhoon Leon. Before that were two typhoons, Julian and Kristine.
The sad news however is that two other weather disturbances are being monitored by DOST PAGASA which may again affect Cagayan Valley.
Photos via Air Cachero